Automobile door hinge



Patented Aug. 1, 1944 UNITE-D STATE-s PATENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE DOOR'HINGE Lyle C. Atwood, Rockford, Ill., assigner to The Atwood VacuumMachine Company, Rockford, Ill., a copartnership composed of Seth B.Atwood and James T. Atwood .Application August 26,1940,seria1'N.-354,185

` 3 ClaimsTv (o1. ifs-iss) This invention relates to a new and improvedhinge of the concealed type f-or use on the doors of motor vehicles. Y I

The principal-object of my invention is to provide a hinge embodying asimple and-inexpensive although very eiective means for releasablylocking the door in fully'open position against accidental closing, themeans employed for this purpose being preferably of a Vform to act alsoto exert a frictional drag to resist movement of the door so that thefull force of violent opening is not assumed by the `conventional doorcheck, which limits the opening movement as is Well known.

- Another object .lis to provide a resilient door stop or detent in thehinge proper -for the purpose stated which consists of a'bowedleaf-spring slidably engageable by the -edge of the gooseneck hingemember, the lhinge member having -a hardened steel wear -plate mountedin a recess in the edge thereof for sliding contact with theleafspr-ing, whereby Ito minimize 4wear and vmake for long life.Y vTheleaf-spring which is carried on the-other hinge member-is preferablyformed with a sharp rise on one side-ofthe hump and a gentler rise-onthe vother side, the spring being fastened at that -end adjacent thesharp rise and so that the-gooseneck hinge member rides up the gentlerise in the opening of the door and up the sharp rise in the closing ofthe door, the-"sharp rise affording a better detent or stop for the doorto hold it Aopen; The spring also has va right vangle bent end portionon its attached yend toabut vtheA edge 'portion of the hinge 'member to4holdthe springagainst turn-ing relative to its ufastening rivet andalso assume-end thrust vincident to the closing of Vthe door -so thatthe rivet is'relieved from shock and strain. f

The invention is illustrated-in the accompanying drawing, in rwhich-l HY' Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through an `automobile door hingeembodying the resilient' door stop of my invention, the door beingshown' closed with theA gooseneck hinge member -i-n spaced relation tothe stop; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section similar to Fig: 1, but showingthe door opened so as vto Aillustrate the operation'of the door stop-andY f The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts-inithe three Views. 4

yReferring 4tothe drawing, I- designates Iaportion of-the -bo'd-y and 5l'aportion of the doorfof an automobile hingedly mounted von-the body bytwo or more hinges, one of which appears in seotion at 6. The hingeshown comprises an outer lmember 1 and a-nl inner member -8 mounted onthe body and door,^respectively. The outer member 'I is formed fromsheet metal to a generally U-shaped cross-section so as to provideopposed substantially horizontal parallel walls 9 and ID interconnectedby a vsubstantially vertical wall I I. The horizontal walls lhaveembossed portions I2 forming supports for the pintle I3 received in abearing hole I4 provided therefor in the enlarged end portion IE of theinner lhinge member 8. The walls 9 and Ill are also flanged outwardly asat I6 to provide attaching portions for bolting,'rivet ing, 0r otherwisesecuring the outer hinge'mem-` ber I to the body pillar, a portion'ofwhich appears at I1. A sheet metal yface plate I8 suitably welded to theattaching portions I6, is cut away as at I9 to provide operatingclearance for the inner hingeY member 8. The inner hinge member B'has anoffset portion 20 next to its attaching' end portion 2| where it extendsthrough the cut-out portion I9 of the' plate I S, whereby toprovideoperating .clearances for the gooser1ecl po`r-`x tion 22 when the doorcloses. The gooseneck portion 22 is next to the offset portion '28, andits radius 'is long enough so that the portion 23 clears the bodypillarfin the opening of the door; as

appears'in Fig. 2. The pintle end portion I5 'pro-1 vided on the otherhalf of the goo's'ene'ck portion 22 is approximately at right angles tothe attaching end portion 2|, and the door 5 is accordingly free toswing through vapproxin'l'ate'ly 90 lfr'om f closed to open position. Adoor check, not shown,

of any suitable form, .as for example one like that covered by AtwoodPatent 2,148,674," is provided for limiting andicushioning theopeningmrove'- ment of the door. The door 5 is shown in'Fig. 2 inapproximately the extreme open position.

In accordance with my invention, a leaf -spring 24 .having a. bowed orgenerally V-shaped hump .portion 25 intermediate the ends thereofisfsecured onto .the inner side of one of the horizontal Walls 9 andloof theouter hinge member latga predeterminedradial distance from thepintlei3 for slidable engagement v"Withthe edge of the inner orgooseneck portion 22 to -be compressed as the door approaches itsextreme open position, the hump being 'thereafter permitted'to expandagain to normal position so `as to constitute a detent'or stopto holdthe door yielding'ly in approximately its extreme 'open position andprevent accidental closing thereof. A single rivet 26 entered throughregistering holes in the leaf-springr and horizontal Wallof the hingemember serves to fasten V,the

L' leaf-springf-i-n place,` thespring having a rightithe inner end ofthe rivet, as clearly appears Fig. 3, is Well below theY horizontalplane of opera- Y tion of the lower edge of the inner hinge member 8, asindicated by the line a-b, so that the hinge member will not scrapethereon'. 'I'he line a-b serves further to indicate the extent to whichthe hump 25 of the leaf-spring is subjected to deflecmanner previouslydescribed. When the door is fully open, the wear plate 32 has moved pastthe hump 25 and may or may not have any actual contact with the side dof the hump, depending upon where the door check limits the openingmovement of the door. Since the door check wont allow the door to openany farther and the door stop spring 24 holdsfthedoor against closing,it isclear that the door is held yieldingly in the fully open position.The stop spring 24 f offers suflicient resistance to closing of the doorso that there is no danger of its closing accidentally, and yet theoperator does not have to exert much force on the free edge portion ofthe tion and compression from the sliding of the edge portion of theinner hinge member 8 over the v same in the opening and closing of thedoor, while at the same time indicating to what extent the hump 25projects into the plane of the hinge meme ber 8 to serve as a stop toprevent accidental closing of the door when fully opened. The hump 25has a gentle rise on one side c and a sharp rise on the other side dthereof, as clearly appears in Fig, 3, the sharp rise being on that sidetoward the rivet 26. In the opening of the door the inner hinge member 8rides up the gentle rise c, whereas in the closing of the door it ridesup the sharp rise d. This arrangement has a two-fold advantage. Itprovides the sharp rise d as a better detent or stop for the door andenables opening of the door with minimum drag and less end thrust on theleaf-spring. than there is when the inner hinge member 8 rides up thesharp rise d in the closing of the door, the greater end thrust incidentto the closing of the door being assumedboth by the rivet 26 and thebent end 21. The free end portion 30 of the leaf-spring 24 is bent intosubstantially parallel relation to the adjacentl Wall 9 of the outerhinge member and disposed Vin slightly spaced relation 4to said wall, asindicated at 3| in Fig. 3, so that at least to a small vextent theleaf-spring 24 is merely deflected downwardly when the edge portion ofthe inner hinge member 8 rides over the hump 25, the bent free endportion 3U having a sled runner action as it slides freely on the Wall 9in the deflection of the spring. In other words, thefr ee lend portion30 of the leaf-spring must first bottom on the wall 9 before the hump issubjected to any compression or pinching between the edge portion of thehinge member 8 and the wall 9, and in that way the opening and closingof the door vis not as much obstructed by the leaf-springl and it is notsubjected to nearly as much wear and tear and will accordingly lastindefinitely. A hardenedv steel Wear plate 32 is set in a depression 33provided therefor in the lower edge of the inner hinge member 8 andisrpreferably welded in place, although it may, of course, be fastenedin any other `suitable manner. This Wear plate has the bottom surfacethereof in the plane f the-line afb and therefore clears the kflat headl29 of Vthefrivet 26 in th'eswing'ingnmovement ofthe inner hinge 'meiniber'8. 1*

In operation, it will` be understood vfrom. the foregoing descriptionthat as the door 'is opened thejinner'hinge member'S brings Athawearplate 32 into sliding engagement with thesflde c of the hump portion ofthe leaf-spring,2itwhen-the door is 'about halfway open, and itis'during-,the

lattjer'lialf orless ofthe opening movement. ofthe v door .that `theinner hingeY member 8 rst deects door to swing it-to closed position,especially in view o'f the amount of leverage available at that point onthe door 'in relation to the leaf-spring 24. The sliding action of thehinge member 8 relative to the leaf-spring 24 is substantially noiselessand not at all noticeable. The embodiment of the door stop in one ormore of the hinges of the door in such a simple and inexpensive althoughthoroughly effective form is considered preferable to the embodiment ofstop means in a door check, inasmuch as experience has shown that doorstops of that type have not been genequally as satisfactory and havemoreover necessitated complicating lthe construction of the door checksto suchran extent that the added cost of production ofsuch door checkswas substantially greater than what is involved where the door stop isembodiedrin the hinges in the manner herein disclosed. n

Itis believed the foregoing description conl veys a good understandingof the'objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims havebeen drawn with a view: to covering all legitimate modifications andadaptations properly coming within the scope of my invention.

I claim: y

l. Detent means for use with a hinge comprising an outer hinge memberand any inner hinge member pivotally connected together by a pintle, theouter hinge member having at least one wall in a plane in closely spacedsubstantially parallel relation to an edge portion of the inner hingemember, in relation to which said edge portion of said inner -hingemember is lmovable in the pivotal movement of said hinge members re1-ative to one another, said detent means comprising an elongated,longitudinally bent leaf spring secured .to and compressible on saidwall toward straightened form lbetween the wall and the edge portion ofthe other hingemember by sliding engagement of said edge portionlthereon, said spring being disposed in radiallyspaced relation to thepintle axis and being bent so as to provide a V-shaped hump portionvintermediate the ends thereof the crown of which projects normally intothe plane of kmovement of the edge portion of the other hinge member soas to be deflected thereby in the` sliding; engagement of said edgeportion with said hump, a single fastener extendnig through oneendportion of said leaf spring detent and throughsaid wall to fasten thedetent in placeI thereon, and an intertting lug on the end of the detentand a notchin the wall in radiallyvspaced relation tQsaid-fastener forpreventing turning of the detent about the fastener as a center. A

2. In combination, a hingecomprising an outer hinge member and an innerhinge member pivotallyconnected together by a pintle, theouter hingemember having atleast one wall in a plane in4 closely spaced.sllbstar.,1tallyl parallel relation. to

an edge portion of the inner hinge member, in relation to which saidedge portion of said inner hinge member is movable in the pivotalmovement of said hinge members relative to one an other, and a leafspring detent fastened at one end on said wall by a single rivet anddisposed in radially spaced relation to the pintle axis and having ahump portion intermediate the ends thereof the crown of which projects.normally into the plane of movement of the edge portion of the otherhinge member so as to be deflected by sliding engagement of said edgeportion ,lengthwise of said hump, one side of the hump having arelatively gentle rise but the other side toward the fastened end of theleaf spring having a relatively sharp rise, the latter side facing theedge portion of the other hinge member when the door is held by saidhump in open position, and a, lug on the fastened end portion of saidleaf spring engaging a portion of said wall in radially spaced relationto the rivet to prevent turning of the leaf spring relative to the rivetas a center and to assume end thrust independently of the rivet incidentto sliding engagement of the other hinge member on the hump in adirection away from the lug.

3. In combination, a hinge comprising an outer hinge member and an innerhinge member pivotally connected together by a pintle, the outer hingemember having at least one Wall in a plane in closely spacedsubstantially parallel relation to an edge portion of the linner hingemember, in relation to which said edge portion of said inner hingemember is movable in the pivotal movement of said hinge members relativeto one another, and a leaf spring detent on said wall in radially spacedrelation to the pintle axis having a hump portion intermediate the endsthereof the crown of which projects normally intothe plane of movementof the edge portion of the other hinge member so as to be deflectedthereby in the sliding engagement of said edge portion with said hump, asingle fastener extending through one end portion of said leaf springdetent and through said wall to fasten the detent in place thereon, saidwall having an opening provided therein in radially spaced relation tothe fastener, and a lug on the end portion of said leaf spring detentadjacent the fastener projecting into said opening to prevent turning ofthe detent relative to the fastener as a center and to assume end thrustindependently of the fastener incident to sliding engagement Aof theother hinge member on the hump portion of said leaf spring detent.

LYLE C. ATWOOD.

